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Lazarus A.D.

I have long theorized that music in general works in cycles of twenty to twenty-five years, and that what's old can continually be made new again, like doctoring up that potato salad for one last go-around. To wit, in the 1990's, Pantera, Alice in Chains and the rest of grunge listed their influences as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and the classic rock of the 70's. In the 1970's, Led Zeppelin and their cohorts listed their influences as Chuck Berry, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and the blues and rock musicians of the 50's.

It was in places like this that heavy metal began. A small-time bar out in the sticks with a stage, where the old Peavey PA has a significant hum and half the gathered crowd was there to watch the NLCS. It was in places like this, where billiards tables were pushed out of the way and the walls were undecorated, where bands made their name under dim, yellow-hued incandescent lighting. (Lighting so poor that only black and white photos were exposing properly.) These were, and are, the proving grounds.

In the muddled quagmire of up-and-coming bands that is crowded with acts like Black Veil Brides and Motionless in White, there stands Lazarus A.D, an increasingly rare embodiment of the original tenets of American metal. Bred with speed and groove and forged in the heart of thrash's nuclear furnace, Lazarus A.D, represents the kind of ferocious fidelity to metal's principles that empirically seems to be from a bygone era.

The dust has settled from the release of Lazarus A.D.'s sophomore effort, "Black Rivers Flow." After a tour that took the band all across the United States and Europe, the band has a little time off before striking out on a headlining tour in a couple weeks. Vocalist and bassist Jeff Paulick took some time out to talk with Bloody Good Horror. The refreshingly candid frontman gives us his thoughts on the band, their new album, Metallica, dance music, the state of heavy metal, the music business, horror cinema and sports allegiances in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Suffice it to say, we covered a lot of ground in our conversation.

"The Onslaught," the debut from Wisconsin thrashers Lazarus A.D. was, to speak plainly, brilliant. So it was with great anticipation that the metal universe greeted the coming of the band's follow up, "Black Rivers Flow." This new effort is similar but ever so different from its predecessor and equally masterful in its own right.